Gothic England Architecture
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
Biography
And
Background
Robert Lewis Stevenson
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•
•
•
Born 1850 ~ Edinburg, Scotland ~ Sickly
Father designed lighthouses
Studied literature at Edinburg University
Had to move to a warmer climate because of
his deteriorating health
• Moved to California in 1879 and married
Fanny Osbourne; the travel almost killed him
• Doctors told him he would die in a few
months, but he lived until 1894
Robert Louis Stevenson
~continued~
• His first great writing success was Treasure
Island ~ thrilling story of a swashbuckling pirate
named Long John Silver.
• Other works include: A Child’s Garden of
Verses and Kidnapped
• Robert Louis Stevenson died on December 3,
1894. At the time of his death, he was
working with friends in Scotland preparing
an edition of his complete works.
Other Interesting Facts
• Robert Louis Stevenson has a good
claim to be the inventor of the Sleeping
Bag, taking a large fleece-lined sack
with him to sleep on the journey
through France described in his book
Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes
Interesting Facts
~Continued~
• In his tale of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, one of the first
‘psychological’ thrillers, Stevenson portrays how two
contradictory personalities – one conventional
‘good’, the other an example of increasingly
uncontrolled ‘evil’ – can coexist in one body. It is
said that this was an idea modeled on the late 18th
century case of Deacon Brodie, a respectable
Edinburgh businessman by day who was a gambler,
adulterer, armed robber & murderer by night – and
nobody knew until he bungled a robbery, was
eventually caught and hanged on a gallows of his
own invention!
Symbolism
and
The Novella
• Symbolism is the practice of representing
things by means of symbols or of
attributing symbolic meanings or
significance to objects, events, or
relationships.
• A Novella is longer and more complex than
short stories but shorter and simpler than
novels
Symbolism
and
The Novella ~ Continued
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde became an instant success in
1886
• Britain was experiencing a period of
intense social, economic, and spiritual
change, after many decades of
confident growth & national selffulfillment.
Symbolism
and
The Novella ~ Continued
• Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde perfectly captured
some readers’ fears that their careful
built society was hypocritical.
• It was a symbolic expression of threats
to traditional British society: struggle
between the social classes for power
with an increase in political power of
the working class
Symbolism
and
The Novella ~ Continued
• Others saw a challenge in the long-held
religious belief in God’s creation of the
universe being replaced by the
evolution theory
• Many considered Hyde to be a model of
the strong yet evil individual who would
survive while Jekyll who represented
good did not survive over evil and fell
Symbolism
and
The Novella ~ Continued
• Another group found some of the new
ideas being considered about the
human mind
• Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalysis
as a method of treating emotional
disorders and believed humans are
influenced by impulses of which they
were not aware and are often
expressed in dreams
Symbolism
and
The Novella ~ Continued
• To people who leaned toward this
psychological symbolism, Hyde
represents Dr. Jekyll’s subconscious
desire to be freed from his society’s
restrictions
Gothic Genre
• Gothic fiction is an important genre of literature that combines
elements of both horror and romance. As a genre, it is generally
believed to have been invented by the English author Horace
Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto. The effect of
Gothic fiction depends on a pleasing sort of terror, an extension of
essentially Romantic literary pleasures that were relatively new at
the time of Walpole's novel.
• Prominent features of Gothic fiction include terror (both
psychological and physical), mystery, the supernatural, ghosts,
haunted houses and Gothic architecture, castles, darkness, death,
decay, doubles, madness, secrets and hereditary curses.
• The stock characters of Gothic fiction include tyrants, villains,
bandits, maniacs, Byronic heroes, persecuted maidens, femmes
fatale, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters,
demons, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the
Wandering Jew and the Devil himself.
Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalysis
Theory
• Ego, super-ego, and id
– Main article: Ego, super-ego, and id
• - In his later work, Freud proposed that the psyche could be divided
into three parts: Ego, super-ego, and id. The id is known as the
child-like portion of the psyche that is very impulsive and only takes
into account what it wants and disregards all consequences. The
super-ego is the moral code of the psyche that solely follow right
and wrong and takes into account no special circumstances in which
the morally right thing may not be right for that situation. Finally, the
ego is the balance between the two. It is the part of the psyche that
is, usually, portrayed in the person's action, and after the super-ego
and id are balanced, the ego acts in a way that takes both impulses
and morality into consideration.
Feud’s Theory Simplified
• Id – The division of the Psyche associated with
instinctual impulses and demands for immediate
satisfaction of primitive needs
• Ego ~ The personality component that is
conscious, most immediately controls behavior,
and is most in touch with external reality
• Super-ego ~ The division of the psyche that
develops by the incorporation of the perceived
moral standards of the community, is mainly
unconscious, and includes the conscience.
Time and Place
~Setting~
• The novella takes place in London in
the 1880s. Settings include Jekyll’s
fine home in a formerly grand
neighborhood now in decay; Lanyon’s
comfortable home in Cavendish
Square, where many distinguished
doctors have their houses and offices;
and Hyde’s house in Soho, a part of
London know for its immigrant
populations.
Time and Place continued
The Victorian Era
• 1830s to the beginning of 1900s
• Britain’s Queen Victoria ruled 1837-1901 for
sixty-four years
• Britain was world’s leading economic and
military power and controlled a vast empire
• Many changes included: railroads, postal
system; improved medical and sanitary
advances; government supported schools;
growing industry; cities became populated
Time and Place
The Victorian Era ~continued
• Eventually, worry began to cloud the
thoughts of the people. Poverty
became a formidable problem. The
strength of the British Empire was
challenged by difficult foreign wars.
Workers demanded more power,
women entered workforce and changes
disturbed & frightened many Britons.
Then Jekyll and Hyde was written.
Character Descriptions
• Mr. Utterson: The narrator of the book, Utterson
is a middle-aged lawyer, and a man in which all
the characters confide throughout the novel. As
an old friend of Jekyll, he recognizes the
changes and strange occurrences of Jekyll and
Hyde, and resolves to further investigate the
relationship between the two men. He is
perhaps the most circumspect, respected, and
rational character in the book, and it is therefore
significant that we view Hyde's crimes and
Jekyll's hypocrisy through his observant, but
generally sympathetic perspective.
Character Descriptions
~Continued~
• Richard Enfield: Mr. Utterson's cousin, a
younger man who is assumed to be
slightly more wild than his respectable and
sedate relative. While initially it is assumed
that Enfield will play a large role in this
novel as it is he who is witnesses Hyde's
initial crime, Enfield only appears in two
scenes. In both, he walks past Hyde's
mysterious door with Mr. Utterson.
Character Descriptions
~Continued~
• Dr. Lanyon: A former friend and colleague
of Dr. Jekyll. Ten years before the events
in the novel, he suspended his friendship
with Dr. Jekyll because of a disagreement
over scientific endeavors. Lanyon is highly
respected, rational, and values truth and
goodness above all else.
Character Descriptions
~Continued~
• Dr. Henry Jekyll: A prominent middle-aged doctor
described as both tall and handsome. He is also
extremely wealthy with a fortune well over two million
dollars. All that know him describe him as respected and
proper. However, as the novel progresses, we subtly
witness his hypocritical behavior, which Stevenson
claimed was Jekyll's fatal flaw. The doctor's belief that
within each human being there exist forces of good and
evil leads to his experiments that try to separate the two.
Although presented as a scientific experiment, Jekyll
undertook this task to allow himself a release from the
respectable guise of Dr. Jekyll. In the book, Jekyll's voice
is only heard in the concluding chapter, only after being
described through the lens of Utterson, Lanyon, Poole,
and Enfield.
Character Descriptions
~Continued~
• Edward Hyde: A small, deformed, disgusting man
somewhat younger than Dr. Jekyll who is apparently
devoid of a profession. Lanyon, Utterson and Enfield
all describe witnessing something indefinably evil and
horrific in Edward Hyde's face. He is often compared
to animals, implying that he is not a fully evolved
human being. Despite these descriptions, Hyde is
generally civilized in his interactions with others, most
notably Utterson and Lanyon. Dr. Jekyll describes
Hyde as "pure evil," who menaces society at night,
trampling a girl in the street and murdering Sir
Danvers Carew. We learn at the end of the story that
Edward Hyde and Dr. Henry Jekyll are in fact the
same person.
Character Descriptions
~Continued~
• Sir Danvers Carew: A highly respected
and prominent member of English society
who Edward Hyde brutally murders.
Carew is described as "silver haired" and
"gentle."
Character Descriptions
~Continued~
• Mr. Guest: Mr. Utterson's law office clerk
who discovers the handwriting similarity
between notes from Mr. Hyde and Dr.
Jekyll.
Character Descriptions
~Continued~
• Richard Poole: Dr. Jekyll's faithful butler.
When fearful for his master's life, Poole
seeks out Mr. Utterson's assistance. The
two men discover Edward Hyde dead in
Dr. Jekyll's cabinet and then, from a letter
written by Dr. Jekyll's hand, learn of the
doctor's fantastic experiments.
Beware of Booga Moments!
• 1 Booga ~ kind of scary
• 2 Boogas ~ scary
• 3 Boogas ~ really scary